The End of an Era
Sex and the City confirms “Lipstick Jungle” and “Cashmere Mafia” have surpassed the pioneering show in both style and substance.By Kim Gengler
June 2, 2008
Photo Credit: Craig Blankenhorn/New Line Cinema
Last weekend, "Sex and the City" made the transition from the small screen to the silver screen. Women across the country put on dresses and stilettos to sit in a dark theater and watch four familiar friends’ tribulations in love and life. The film grossed an astonishing $55.7 million, nearly half of which was from opening day alone. The return of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte signifies the power of chick entertainment.
Yet the show—and now the movie—continues to portray women only within the context of their interpersonal relationships. Instead of discussing how their careers are progressing or how each woman’s professional network can help the other women in their professional and personal dilemmas, "Sex and the City focuses mostly on men and shopping. In this respect, the contemporaries of “Sex and the City” have now surpassed what was once viewed as a pioneering show. Although still bona fide chick shows, “Lipstick Jungle”on NBC and “Cashmere Mafia” on ABC make an effort to portray women in both interpersonal and professional contexts. Watching women in high-power roles, discussing their careers as well as their personal problems begins to make chick entertainment less vapid.
Candace Bushnell wrote the books “Sex and The City” (a collection of columns from The Observer) and “Lipstick Jungle,” which inspired the series of the same names. Darren Star, creator of “Sex and the City,”produces “Cashmere Mafia.”In “Sex and the City,” “Lipstick Jungle”and “Cashmere Mafia”(which both debuted this year) combine the glamour in “Sex and The City” with the professional conquests of powerful and smart women. The hope was that the “Sex in The City” characters would have evolved in the movie to reflect the slightly more current trends—sexism in the workplace, role reversal in the home, juggling motherhood and a successful career—in chick entertainment. But the movie failed to evolve in the way its successors did.
In the movie, Carrie has published two more books since the end of the series, but they are both about finding love. Samantha is Smith Jared’s agent in Los Angles and although she has moved for professional reasons, those professional reasons still very much revolved around a man (very unlike hyper-sexed and independent Samantha). Miranda is still overly critical and caught up in her work. Charlotte finally fulfills her dreams of motherhood while still maintaining her happy homemaker status.
During the television series, the discussions of career were few and far between. Charlotte’s decision to quit her perfect gallery job after marrying her first husband Trey receives attention in but one episode. There’s nothing wrong with the "Sex and The City" ladies remaining remarkably like we left them at the end of the sixth season, but it’s disappointing these newer shows didn’t inspire Michael Patrick King, the movie’s director and writer, to push the characters into wiser roles. After ten years, it’d be easy to think the characters would be less prone to familiar mistakes like Miranda criticizing Steve and Carrie putting her faith in Mr. Big, someone who had hurt her many times before.
The plot offers few surprises and takes us through scenes we’ve seen before: Carrie toting designer shopping bags, the ladies lunching, Samantha incorporating food in her sex life (this time, sushi). What has changed is the fashion—something that has always been perceived as something of a fifth main character in the show. The characters look amazing in updated designs, but the new styles aren’t enough to bring the characters to a more realistic setting.
Yet the popularity of Sex and the City remains intact. The "Sex and the City" ladies continue to make the audience laugh. When Big won’t get out of the car on his and Carrie’s wedding day, the audience holds its breath. Samantha’s poolside criticism of Miranda’s out-of control pubic hair is a riot. Similarly, the audience was happy for Charlotte when she learns she’s pregnant. Through it all they have each other, and that’s encouraging.
As women have begun to take on more high-power roles in the workplace, the need for close friends and companionship hasn’t diminished. Women still have “girls’ night out,” including nights that including watching Sex and the City. That’s what the show is ultimately about: friendship and setting aside the real complications of working. But the updated versions of the show effectively combine style and substance to a degree "Sex and the City" never did. Prominent pop culture figures like Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs, Samantha Jones, and Charlotte York should reflect multiple dimensions on both the big and small screens.
Kim Gengler is an Assistant Editor at Cengage Learning. She graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2006.
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